iPhone users can visit the Apple App Store and download a FREE application that will help them make sense of their artistic surroundings.

PITTSBURGH.- Have you ever walked past a questionable piece of street art or visited a contemporary art gallery where you were unsure if something was part of the exhibition? As of this week, iPhone users can visit the Apple App Store and download a FREE application that will help them make sense of their artistic surroundings.

The Mattress Factory, a museum of contemporary installation art, and Deeplocal, a design and innovation studio, both based in Pittsburgh, have partnered to develop the Is This Art? iPhone application. Using the iPhones camera, users snap a picture of something they think might be art and the application instantly delivers the results. Users can also upload their images and results to a website, http://isthisart.org, where anyone can comment, react and share the images on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

As a museum of contemporary installation art that exhibits mostly new site-specific works, the Mattress Factory has earned a reputation for pushing artistic boundaries by allowing the artists we work with to explore complete artistic freedom. And with that comes artworks that provoke thought and raise questions, says Jeffrey Inscho, Director of Media and Public Relations for the Mattress Factory. Our hope with this application and website is that they help get people talking about art  what art is, what art can be, where art can be found, how art influences people and why art is important.

Also lending a hand to the project was New York-based art and culture writer Carolina Miranda, who blogs at http://c-monster.net. Miranda, along with art conservator Rosa Lowinger, wrote the one-liner-style responses that users receive after submitting a photo.

Point. Click. Art? The Is This Art? iPhone application can be downloaded via iTunes or by clicking the download link on http://isthisart.org.